


The Worst Patient

by broadlicnic



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-20
Updated: 2011-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 14:25:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadlicnic/pseuds/broadlicnic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doctors make the worst patients. Reid most of all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Worst Patient

"Reid," Luke said, throwing a towel on the sleeping mass huddled under the duvet. "Shower's free."

Luke rolled his eyes at the groan coming from beneath the fabric and pulled the cover back, exposing the heaving mass of grumpy doctor within.

"Come on, you have a consult with Mr Williams at noon, and we're supposed to meet Bob at the Lakeview first."

"Cancel it," Reid mumbled into the pillow.

"No, I will not cancel it," Luke said. He crawled over Reid's body to lay beside him. "Mr Williams is your most important case since Noah. If you help him, his company will donate thousands of dollars to the hospital."

"You have a habit of repeating things I already know, Mr Snyder," Reid said.

Luke grinned and gave Reid's hair a little tug. "Well shut me up and get out of bed!"

Reid shook his head and buried it deeper into the pillow.

"This isn't funny now, Reid," Luke snapped. He took Reid by the shoulders and tried to pull him to a sitting position.

"No!" Reid moaned, batting Luke's hands away. "Don't look at me!"

"Reid, stop being-" Luke grabbed Reid's chin and turned his face to him. Reid's eyes were puffy and bloodshot, his skin pale and sweaty. Only then could Luke feel Reid tremble. "Are you sick?"

"Of course not!" Reid insisted. "Doctor Reid Oliver does not get sick."

"Okay," Luke said, crossing his arms in that stubborn, smug way he could only have learnt from Lucinda Walsh. "Explain your face."

"It's just allergies," Reid shrugged. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and made to stand up. As he lifted his head, his vision went hazy and his head pounded. _Okay Reid, this is the part where you faint,_ he thought. He fell back onto the mattress, back slamming against Luke's chest.

"Reid!" Luke cried.

"I'm okay," Reid said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"No, you're not," Luke said, sliding out from underneath Reid and laying him back against the pillows. "You stay here." He pulled the duvet back over Reid. "Katie's in the kitchen. I'll get her to call Bob and cancel your appointments." Luke gave him one last, pitying look, before heading out of the door.

"At least bring me a sandwich!" Reid called after him.

\---

"It's just so unfair," Reid growled, slamming his hand against a pillow.

"What?" Luke said, looking up from the floor. "That I have to spend my day cleaning vomit out of the carpet?"

"My body has never rejected a sandwich before. I can't even enjoy a snack today?"

Luke's face contorted into a disgusted pout, as he lifted a soggy lump of meat with his gloved hand.

"My chicken," Reid whimpered, his lip wobbling.

Luke raised an eyebrow. "You're pathetic, you know that?" He dumped the chicken in the bucket beside him, and got to his feet. "I kinda wish I was filming this." Luke picked the bucket off the ground. "I'll flush this, and later we'll try some soup, okay?"

\---

 

"So," Luke said, stroking Reid's hair, "diagnose yourself."

Reid looked up from where he was curled into Luke's chest, shivering despite the intense summer heat. "There's nothing wrong with my brain."

"Is that the best you can do?" Luke chuckled. "Maybe I should get Chris to take a look at you..."

"No!" Reid gasped, clutching onto Luke's shoulders. He let go and rolled his eyes at Luke's grin. "I just need to sweat it out."

"Okay," Luke whispered. He settled down beside Reid and enveloped the shaking man in his arms, nudging at his cheek with his nose.

"You should get to work," Reid said. "I don't want you catching anything."

"I'll be fine," Luke said. He kissed the shell of Reid's ear. "My boyfriend's a doctor."

\---

"What's hypophosphatemic osteomalacia?" Luke asked, flipping through one of Reid's articles in a medical journal and understanding about ten words within.

"It's a rare complication of multiple myeloma," Reid answered, blowing on the spoonful of soup in his hand. "There's no cure, but pain can be allieviated with calcitriol and phosphate supplements."

"Does it have anything to do with the brain?" Luke asked, turning the journal sideways and squinting at a diagram.

"No, but it's so rare, I figured I'd give it a shot," Reid's hand trembled, spilling hot chicken soup onto the duvet and down his arm. "Aargh! Ouchy on my hand!"

Luke cackled with laughter. "You are the worst patient ever. Come here," he said, taking the bowl and spoon from Reid.

"No way," Reid insisted, his eyes growing wide. "You are not feeding me."

"Do you want food or not?" Luke said with a smirk.

"Always."

"Well then, shut up and wait for the god damn choo choo train."

Reid sighed and opened his mouth unnecessarily wide. Luke blew on the spoonful and brought it to Reid's mouth. Reid swallowed and offered Luke a huge grin.

"You are so whipped. You're feeding me!"

"You're the one letting me feed you," Luke shot back.

"Touche."

\---

"You need a TV in here," Luke moaned.

"I didn't think it was necessary," Reid said. "I only ever use this room for sleeping and..." He let his voice trail off, as Luke cleared his throat. "We'll have to entertain ourselves."

"We could play a game," Luke said, turning over on his side and resting his head on his knuckles, his elbow pressed into the pillow.

"Oh dear God," Reid muttered.

"You get to ask me any question you'd like."

"Alright," Reid said, brightening up. "Just how many times have you been hospitalised?"

"Put it this way," Luke laughed. "My medical bills alone could probably fund an entire unit at Memorial. Okay, my turn!"

"You didn't tell me the game worked this way," Reid snapped.

"We Grimaldis are a sneaky people," Luke said with a wicked smile. "What's the worst thing you've ever seen?"

"Doogie Hughes naked in the shower at med school," Reid said without hesitation. "You again. Did you always want to be a rich, blonde business man?"

"Not a chance," Luke said. "I set up the foundation because I wanted to do something positive with the Grimaldi fortune."

"So what did you want to do then?"

Luke shook his head, and tapped Reid on the nose. "That's another question. Wait your turn."

"It's an extension on the first," Reid said, taking Luke's hand and intertwining their fingers against his now-bare chest. "What did little Luciano want to be when he was all grown up?"

"A writer," Luke answered with a sigh. "At least until I was expelled. And to be honest, I've not written a thing since Noah's accident."

Reid rolled his eyes, "Please don't tell me he was your muse."

Luke shot him a look. "I've been busy. That's all."

\---

They'd been playing the game for two hours now, and in that time, Luke had learnt about Reid's most embarrassing moment, the biggest mistake he'd made in surgery and why he didn't attend his senior prom. In turn, Reid had discovered the sagas of Kevin, Brian and Luke's kidney transplant. Reid had been debating bringing up Luke's alcoholism when he was hit by an intense pain in his stomach and Luke had to help him stumble to the bathroom to be sick again.

"Comfortable?" Luke asked, tucking the duvet around Reid.

"Just ask your question," Reid grumbled.

"Okay," Luke said, looking somewhat nervous. "How long have you -" He swallowed, took a deep breath, and tried again. "When did you realise you liked me?"

Reid met Luke's eyes and beneath the pain and sweat and exhaustion, Luke thought he saw the hint of a twinkle in them. But then, Luke was a hopeless romantic. "Around the second or third time I lay eyes on you," Reid answered.

Luke grinned. "Noah said you'd say that."

Reid slowly struggled to sit up. "You've been talking to Noah about me?"

"Is that your question?" Luke asked.

"No," Reid said. Luke hooked an arm around Reid's collar, and pulled him back against his chest. Reid reached back to snake a hand into Luke's hair. "Fucking Grimaldis. You people are like ninjas."

"That's a Walsh trait," Luke said, pressing a kiss to Reid's temple. "What's your question?"

"When did you realise you liked me?" Reid asked.

"I guess it was the day we got back from Texas," Luke admitted. "Though I probably didn't realise it then. I don't know - being with Noah for so long kinda left me blinded to the idea of ever being with somebody else. And then you came along, and when you're not all mucus-like, you can be quite intimidating."

"Thanks," Reid grinned.

"What I'm trying to say is, I knew back then, but it wasn't until I realised it was over with Noah that I knew I knew, you know?"

"I think that sentence made sense," Reid said, wrinkling his nose.

"I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry," Luke said, feeling Reid relax a little into his arms, the trembling subsiding. "If I hadn't been so dependent on Noah, we could have avoided a whole lot of drama."

"You're loyal," Reid said around a yawn. "You made a promise to help Noah and you honour your promises. It's one of the things I love about you."

"Okay, what?" Luke gasped. Reid was asleep.

\---

Reid had been sleeping for an hour now, using Luke's chest as a makeshift pillow. Luke tried not to pull a face at the mucus from Reid's nose spilling onto his shirt.

Katie knocked as she entered. "How's he doing?"

"He's the worst patient in the world," Luke said, voice just above a whisper. "But I've managed to keep him quiet with nap time. Where's Jacob?"

"I left him with Kim," Katie said, perching on the edge of the bed. "I didn't want him crying and disturbing Reid." Katie reached out and stroked her hand along Reid's clammy forehead. "He looks awful."

"He's not that bad," Luke said. "A bit more demanding than usual, but in a whiny way."

"Doctor Oliver, whining?" Katie giggled.

"Seriously," Luke laughed. "He was mourning the sandwich he puked up and everything. He's a completely different beast when he's sick. He likes cuddles, for a start."

"I think the person he's cuddling may help a bit," Katie said, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

Luke bit his lip. "He also talks different. Like before he fell asleep, he said my loyalty was one of the things he loved about me."

"And what's so weird about that?" Katie asked.

"It's the way he said it," Luke said, exasperated. "Reid doesn't ever talk about love unless he is mocking somebody. Was he making fun of me?"

"No, you idiot!" Katie said, slapping Luke's leg. "He's in love with you!"

"I don't know..." Luke said, eyebrows knitting as he looked back at the sleeping Reid.

"I do," Katie said, examining her nails. "He told me."

"When?" Luke gasped before his mouth dropped wide open.

"It was just after he quit Memorial for you. He said he didn't want to tell you until all this Noah stuff was behind you and he'd met your family properly. Maybe after you'd had sex." Luke blushed. How much did Katie know? "He wanted to make sure this was what you wanted first."

Katie got up from the bed. "I'm meeting Henry at Metro. You have the number for my cell if you need me."

\---

"Luke?" Reid yelled hoarsely.

"I'm here," Luke said, pushing open the bedroom door. "I was just getting some water."

"How long have I been out?"

"About three hours."

Reid pushed himself up, leaning back against the headboard. "Sorry, I needed -"

"-Reid, I'm in love with you," Luke interrupted.

He stayed frozen there for the longest time, stood in front of the bed, glass of water in hand, staring at Reid who looked back at him as if Luke were a giant truck heading his way. He'd blown it.

Reid's expression softened, and he pulled back the duvet. "Come here."

Luke set down the water and clambered back under the covers. Reid raised his hand to cup Luke's cheek in that pose that had become so familiar to them both. "Katie told you, didn't she?"

Luke blushed. "She may have said something."

"Well, I'm not saying it back," Reid scoffed, hand trailing down to Luke's neck. "When I say it, I want to look sexy and awesome, and not have a stuffed up nose."

Luke nodded. "You should rest some more."

Reid nudged his nose against Luke's, careful not to make it start running again, and settled back down.

"Just so you know," he said. "I am too."


End file.
